A Change Of Scenery
by SimpleYetComplicated
Summary: The reluctant teenager Ben is forced to move from England to Japan after his rather wealthy family find new business opportunities. As a result, he is moved to a new school where he meets some...bizarre characters. What he doesn't know is one girl in particular has a liking for him, a more that psychotic liking. He must deal with this whilst making sure the others around him...live
1. Chapter 1

Rubbing my eyes intensely, I smash my defective alarm clock several times, waiting for the blaring noise to finally stop. Ah, Saturday. Finally, the few days of the week I lived for, with school being such a pain in the ass along with the heaps of training I did for the swimming gala held yesterday (which I must say I obliterated in) it felt good to finally drop back on to my bed and allow my aching muscles to rest. This presumably did not last long. My mother entered the room, an ecstatic smile lit up on her face.

"Honey, I think we found a lovely house in Japan! You simply must see it!" Her elegant speech matched the jewelled dress she wore. Now before you think my mother was going to some special event due to her choice of clothing…this was a natural part of my life. My father ran in to a lot of wealth during the end of his teenage years, wealth that grew incredibly causing me to live a…well, a life that never really seemed to suit me. I wasn't ungrateful, however it was certainly difficult to make genuine friends when they all see your mother come to pick you up in a matte black Rolls Royce Wraith to take you back to a 17th century, colossal manor. This in turn made me quite a shy person, never having much experience with meeting people who didn't want a bit of my wealth.

"Wha…what? new house…WHY?" my eyes darted to her, confused at the topic.

"In Japan! Your father and I found a great business opportunity, it would be for three months. We'd certainly make sure it was the nicest place to stay of course!"

"Mother." I sighed. "Why? You've never bought this up before, you can't just drop this on me like that!"

I sat up from the large bed, moving the patterned duvet away from me whilst my mother sat on a small cushioned seat at the end of my bed, still a smile on her face.

"But Ben...your father wants to buy a slowly growing company that looks like it could make us a fair profit…a tech company, don't tell me that doesn't sound interesting, you may even be able to help him...you're turning eighteen soon, it could be quite beneficial for your future." She said excitedly clearly showing a dearth in actual knowledge for the 'business' side of it. Her tone suddenly dropped to normal once again. "Anyway…we've noticed a lack of social skills you have…your teacher rang about an English-speaking presentation and told us you lacked the confidence to speak to your peers." She paused for a moment, her eyes meeting mine. As I opened my mouth to speak, I found I was cut off as she continued. "On top of this, your grades in general seem…lower than what we hoped for this month…we think a change of scenery may benefit you."

I held my head down, not understanding whether to be disappointed in myself or to be angry that my parents we're oblivious of why I was like this and that they seemed so blind of how I felt.

"Certainly seems like you've planned this before asking me anyways..."

My mother stood up, strolling back over to my door. "It would be seriously good for you Ben; can't you respect that this is an incredible opportunity for us."

My breathing was slow, irritation and sadness crawled through me. "I don't want to go, okay?"

"It will be-"

"I said no…"

She huffed aggressively, her arms crossed. "While your seventeen, you'll listen to me and you may be angry now, but you will seriously thank us later, this will do you good."

With that, she closed the door quickly, not allowing me to protest any longer.

I can't believe in the space of 5 minutes…a whole new life had just been dropped on me with the snap of a finger. From the United Kingdom to Japan…how do you even adapt to that.

I spent some time in my room pacing, fist clenched and pissed off with my lack of control. What about everything I had here? My swimming team…My studies. Then again, what did I really leave behind emotionally, not like I had socialised enough to make any good friends. It must have been hours in my room, just sitting there, thinking…Japan, why of all places? It is a unique culture, sure…but three months.

The day dragged slowly, I didn't bring myself to leave my room. I shut the curtains, allowing the room to go completely dark and spent it watching films. I had questions, yet I was too angry to speak to my mother.

This was until my father got home…

I spent the rest of the night arguing with both my parents, making snarky and aggressive comments towards the lack of consideration they held for what we had here. It must have been an hour of which we argued with one another until I finally gave up, slamming my door shut and flopping down on my bed.

We would be leaving on Monday…

And I'd have to accept this…new beginning.

* * *

 **Sorry this was so short ladies and gents, I wanted to get right in to the story however I thought a backstory was certainly in order as it will explain the protagonist's relationship with his parents and just give a very small insight in to how it began. I promise the chapters will be longer!**


	2. Chapter 2

The eerie darkness of the sky contrasted by the luminous, intense lights of the major cities truly made a spectacular experience. My eyes forced themselves to stay open, even through the fatigued state I was in. The disliking of my parents' choices had dulled now, yet there was an anger which I still held for them, the lack of consideration had really opened my eyes about there carelessness. I did ask myself…

Was there any part of this which they did to help me improve as a person or was it 'right' to keep giving them the cold shoulder because of the greed in extra business?

Speaking to them wasn't exactly on my mind right now but the lively cities down below kept my mind off it. This soon interrupted by the cockpit door opening and what seemed to be the co-pilot greeting us.

"Sir, Ma'am" I overheard the pilot say from my seat furthest from my family. "I just wanted to make you aware we'll be landing in the airport in less than 20 minutes." A genuine smile held on the man's face. You'd think for driving fourteen hours the pilot's spirit may have broken a small amount, but he seemed to be happy. My parents thanked the man in unison, both holding there fake fucking smiles. Argh god, listen to me…I couldn't help but have the negative thoughts running through my mind about them every damn time I glared at them.

The pilot returned to the cockpit whilst my father stood up and stepped over to my seat, a small smile still plastered on his face. "Hey bud, 20 minutes, better start packing up a little." I inspected the table and all the contents on it from my phone to random snacks which littered the table. I simply nodded, starting to pack up anything held on the table.

"Look, I understand this is a little bit different, and we have thrown you in the deep end a little here, but you have to trust me. I think this could be a great change in all our lives Ben. The truth is I want to change as a person, your mother wants to change as a person…we've all lived such expensive lives and I am hoping you might see things differently after the three months."

A deep sigh escaped my system from his lecture. "I get it dad. I honestly do, okay. Ill keep an open mind."

His smile grew. "That's all I'm asking for."

On que to this, the plane began it's descend and as I finished packing, I suppose I couldn't help but get a little amount of excitement run through me. All things considered, travelling was difficult during my time at school as they normally wouldn't allow time off due to the massive amounts of work we were given, so this was quite new to me. As the possibilities ran through my head, the plane wobbled a little as we landed and soon came to a stop, leaving all three of us waiting eagerly to leave the plane. Slowly, one by one, we exited the plane and a cold gush of air blew through my hair, it felt so great to not be cramped in that plane any longer. The airport was small on the north side of Tokyo…from seeing this place from the sky, it was obvious why it was one of the most popular places for tourists to visit. Our luggage was quickly moved to a car on the side of the airport. My parents hurried me in to the car, however not before thanking the pilots and wishing them farewell, giving me a chance to take a breather. It never felt so good to stand in the freezing cold. We had a whole night's drive to the new home, but my parents probably wouldn't make me start school till Wednesday anyway…I hope. Soon we all piled in to the car and we we're off, our four-hour trip to Sendai had begun.

It was a journey I slept through soundly, unable to keep my eyes open through the lengthy trip. I do remember waking up once and while…massive LED screens. Japanese writing at every glance. Advertisements. Crowded cities. These were the few things I recalled however after a couple of minutes, I shut my eyes once again

It was around 1AM when the car had a sudden halt, the jolt woke me from my hazy slumber, this and the sound of the car doors opening. I groggily opened my door and arose from the seat, softly rubbing my eyes, focusing on my surroundings. We seemed to be on a long street, quite an average looking street if that. I shook my head first to the left. Then to the right. Rows of houses, very similar to each other sat lined up one by one.

"What are we doing here?" I confusingly stared at my mother.

A cheeky smirk appeared on both their faces. "This is our home new!" my mother said excitedly, moving her head to the modern, average home.

"What?..."

"I can see why your surprised" My father laughed. "Didn't expect something so normal, did you?"

I gazed at the house, the house was fenced on the outside, a lovely decorative row of bushes on both sides of that gates and inside the gated area, a miniature house compared to our old…yet still a so nicely decorated.

"You're serious?" a half-smile on my face. I think they both understood my discomfort of the 'wealthy' life. "Wow…".

After a little silence of staring at the house, my father finally spoke "I suppose we best get inside, check out the home…"

With that, we made our way through the gate with slow movements because of the long car trip and whilst trying to take in the amazing garden which surrounded us. The anger within me seem to drain the longer we'd been in Japan. Maybe I could find some sort of forgiveness to my parents, at least they'd thought about me in the process of moving…

The thought gave me a little smile as we walked to the oak, black door. It was a very modernised house which was a complete change from our manor. Just as I was about to step in the house, I let my head shift to the left.

Through the window on the house opposite to mine…a girl, she looked to have…

Coral pink hair? That's new...

A small smile sat on the girl's face. I shyly smiled back, tilting my head a little.

I wonder why she was up so late…maybe she heard our car…?

My father suddenly interrupted. "You coming Ben?" My father smiled as he peeked his head from inside the house.

I nodded my head, allowing myself to come back to reality. "Ah…yeah, sorry" I chortled quietly, following my dad in, the girl still floating in my mind.

My eyes continued to scan the room. Beautiful…the comfortable living room decorated with two couches and a big screen. A lovely kitchen with a small table and a few stools sat around it. I think I'd have to explore tomorrow though, my eyes drooped lower and lower by the minute, my body needed sleep.

I gazed back towards my parents, whom now were bringing a few suitcases full of clothing and necessities. I yawned, stumbling upstairs leaving them as there was little to bring in.

Quickly finding my bedroom, I glared around at the new surrounded quite quickly and not thoroughly what-so-ever and allowed myself to slip in to bed without getting undressed…with my eye shut in an instant, I drifted off.


End file.
